Nebraska Humanities hosted a panel at the University of Nebraska at Omaha to discuss journalism and its relationship with democracy. The panelists included Omaha World-Herald reporter Henry Cordes, Dr. Victoria DeFrancesco Soto from the University of Texas and Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold.
“We thought we really succeeded in bringing together different perspectives from the Washington Post on down to the World Herald,” Sommerich said.
Audience members were given pamphlets outlining rules for civil discussion. Organizers said their goal was to spark a community-engaging discussion about media.
“Clearly these people are very passionate about working in journalism,” Sommerich said. “The audience shared a great interaction with them.”
“I was really interested in questions about trust. Like how do people know to trust the news?” Fahrenthold said. “What do we do that makes people trust in us, when there are so many other things out there that look like us but are not?”
Fahrenthold covered President Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 president election.He said that mainstream coverage didn’t handle the 2016 election with enough care.
During the panel, Fahrenthold told the audience his last interview with Trump was unique and strange. Throughout the phone interview the president would make negative remarks about Fahrenthold who would wait for the president to resume answering questions.
A criticism of the national media that Fahrenthold maintained was the certainty so many outlets treated the election. He believes that many American citizens changed their voting habits based on those ideas being circulated.
“I think people have sort of recognized now, kind of belatedly, the idea that our culture of political journalism was kind of a horse race,” Fahrenthold said. “It treated it all like a game.”
